Troubled Minds
by ProfessorSinistra
Summary: A Harry/Ron/Hermione PoV fic. Someone's depressed, someone's arrogant, and someone's just content, but they all have problems. Please R/R!


A/N: Hey everyone, it's me again. For all of you that read my other fic but didn't review, DIE, DIE, DIE!!! Or go review it. Anyways, this is my first songfic, so feel free to flame it or be as gentle as you want to be [what does flame mean anyway?!]. A special thank you to Manda, my Juanita Songfalls, reader and poster, who sends me the best fics, and also to my sis, Stephanie, who thinks ff.net is a waste of time and energy, thereby fueling my desire to write for it. I love you!! Anyway, the "song" is not a published song, but rather a song/poem I wrote during my year of depression/anorexia that I recently stumbled across again. Let me know what you think of it. Read on and review or else [what? I don't know.]...  
  
DISCLAIMER: All of the characters, places or things you recognize from the HP novels belong to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury Books, WB and everyone else with enough money to buy it. I own nothing but the song. However that is mine, mine, mine, and free only to Neets and anyone else who cares to use it if only they ask me. Email me at glittr2007@aol.com or rbsnrams@aol.com.   
  
All The Pretty People  
By ProfessorSinistra [did you really think I would sign my real name? Foolish, foolish, foolish!]  
  
I'll never be famous or rich  
But I've got something far move valuable  
True friends and comrades that stay  
Something I'll never have taken away  
  
Sitting on the windowsill overlooking the southern portion of the lake at Hogwarts, the teen sighed as he made his way to his most loathsome class, divination. Why did he even bother? He was outshined at this. Just like everything else. Outshined by his best friend, outshined at home, outshined in his beloved common room, and, most recently, outshined at his favorite game. He just couldn't win. As much as he tried to feel jealous, he couldn't. He knew all that he had was better than others, and his earlier childhood had taught him that. He knew that his friends would help him in any way they could at the drop of a hat, so why did he feel the green monster of zealous hate creeping up on him behind his back? He knew his friends were loyal in every way possible to him, so why couldn't he return the noble virtue? Huffing, he finished the way to the North Tower where the silvery ladder hanging from Professor Trelawney's trapdoor was ascending. Running up and just barely catching it, stealing a ride up, books in hand, he arrived just as Sibyll Trelawney glided into the classroom, looking as much a gypsy as ever.  
"What took you?" his best friend asked as he sidled over to their table.  
"Ummpphh, nothing," he answered as he gave a roguish wink to his current fling, Parvati Patil. She giggled is response. Too bad she wasn't as mature in real life as she was in his bed. His conscious thoughts floating to more disturbing matters, the wizard tuned out the professor before she had even begun her lesson. Snapping back to reality every so often to hear her wispy voice mist through the sickly air, he began to siphon off a note to his lover. Finishing with a flourish, he sent it to her, arriving on her parchment with a swirl of orange magic.  
  
_My Sexy Momma,  
I can't wait to meet you tonight behind the quidditch pitch. You will be there at dusk, won't you? You are my sex machine, my bunny, and I cannot live without you. Please say you'll stay forever mine.  
  
Ecstatically yours,  
your love papa   
P.S. Do wear the pink one, it's easiest to slip off.  
  
_Needless to say, Ron was not the greatest at romantic or erotic notes. With a cynical air, he surmised that he wasn't the greatest at anything, recalling his battle of sides with himself earlier that hour.  
  
All the pretty people  
Couldn't change my point of view  
I'm only who God made me to be  
All the pretty people  
Never think about the truth  
When it's gone, it's gone forever more  
That's the price they must realize they'll pay  
Every day  
  
******  
  
Harry soared above the Quidditch field, absorbed in his thoughts. It was getting late for practice, and Harry knew that as quidditch captain for the Gryffindor team, he should call it a night, but he pushed that irrelevantly out and kept thinking. Ron had seemed off lately, but Harry couldn't put is finger on what it exactly was. He sighed and reached for the whistle below his scarlet robes.  
After putting his prized Firebolt broom away in the shed, Harry began sauntering up to the tower for sleep. Passing a Ravenclaw couple bickering at each other in the moonlight, Harry was glad that he and Ginny made a much better couple. He couldn't help but to be smug of how well his life was going sometimes. It was one of his scarce flaws. He had friends, a great body, good grades, captain of the quidditch team, and most of all, a devoted girl. Ginny had definitely matured over the last few years at Hogwarts. A 5th year now, she certainly caught the eye of many of the wizards at the school. But he had her, Harry thought smugly. In his mind, he had everything anyone could possibly want right now.   
Once in bed, Harry had envisioned drifting right off to sleep, dreaming of Ginny and World Cup Final wins, but instead he remembered Ron, snoring softly right in the next four-poster bed. Was Ron jealous? No, he thought, Ron's got Padma. But Harry knew Ron was using Parvati only for sex, something she was all too willing to give. So what was up with Ron? He'd have to ask his best friend tomorrow. He'd confide. Everyone felt they could confide in Harry. His conscious satisfied, he slumped asleep.  
  
******  
Harry and Ginny were in the vicinity of the lake at sunset, kissing like there was no tomorrow. Harry's hands swept through her flaming hair, caressing her whole body a second later. Without warning, fire swept up all around them, enveloping them in waves of flaming heat. Ron, standing nearby, wanted to help them, but at the same time, he had the disturbing yearning of seeing them burn. He screamed, but then began cackling like a hyena. Rooted to the spot by his own dementia, he did nothing. Running swiftly towards them as the whole school sat inside the Great Hall at dinner transfixed, Hermione had seen Ron first and leapt up to their aid but turned to Harry and Ginny instead. Catching up to her, Draco sent Ron a piercing look before helping Hermione. They worked in perfect synchrony, hurling water dousing hexes at the fire, but before they could extinguish it, Ron's laughs turned to sobs and he fell backwards into the lake outside. Though he knew how to swim, his arms wouldn't move. Then his legs froze, and with a last horrifying thought, he sank below the surface of the blue waters...  
  
Ron woke with a jerk, cold sweat pouring down his face. What the hell? He thought. As much as he wanted to run to Parvati and forget about what he had just dreamt, he knew he should think things over. Why was he so jealous, so alone yet surrounded at the same time? Ever since Voldemort's demise, when the danger of the wizarding world had ceased to exist, there had been a void in Ron's life. Without the danger of death and pain his heart that yearned for action and adventure was empty. It had never rightfully been full, stripped of being brimming by Harry's heroics and enterprises. Ron would take a long time to fully realize this.  
******  
  
All the pretty people  
With their cars and with their jewels  
Never realize there's nothing good for them to lose  
They say they couldn't live any other way  
But they won't always be as happy as they are today  
  
_"Bitch! I hate you!"  
"I can't take this anymore!"   
"Fine! Leave!"  
"I will! And I'm never coming back!"  
"Yes you will, you little two-cent hooker! You always come back!"  
"Not this time!"  
"Fine! Bye!"  
"See-ya!" Her voice was full of scorn...._  
  
Hermione snapped out of her reverie. The relationship between her and Viktor had been on and off for two years. Hermione always complained that she never saw him; he was always off on quidditch tours with his team, the Bulgarian national team. Viktor wasn't happy with the situation either- his highly-publicized relationship with Hermione had made him one of the most sought-after ineligible bachelors. Everyone knew he had a girl, so cheating on her was impossible. He should have never gone for a younger girl, especially so much younger. The couple's troubles had ended in a culminating fight during Easter break when everything came to a head. They had parted ways amicably, though, after much strained talk, for Hermione refused to let the situation go unresolved. Even now, though, Hermione refused to think of how many girls Viktor had been waxed by since their breakup, which had been all over the witching tabloids of the wizarding world the following week.   
Hermione had much more happiness now. All Viktor could give her as signs of his love were large, expensive material gifts, while Draco had so much more to offer. He truly loved her in her eyes. Viktor could have his whore sluts in beaded tops with their bosoms hanging fully out, stuffed with cheap silicone. With an eurgh, she let her thoughts go back to Draco, who was so much closer in age, and location. She imagined herself in his long, lean arms, blissfully unaware of anything or anyone else. He was nuzzling her neck, caressing her body, and she had almost taken off his shirt in her dreams when she realized he really was standing behind her, arms around her hips. She turned around.  
"Draco! I've just been thinking about you!"  
"Oh really? And just what about me were you thinking about?" Hermione bit her lip, and smiled as seductively as she could.  
"Nothing," she answered, fingers traipsing up to the collar of his shirt. She pulled it to herself and kissed him softly, lingering for the briefest of moments.  
"I see."  
With a grunt of disgust, Harry broke the connection between them.   
"Hermione, could you please...?" Harry was trying to be as polite as possible, but his tone betrayed his real feelings of disapproval about their connection. Hermione couldn't understand what they didn't see in Draco; he was smart, funny, sexier than any other at the school, and he loved her. He had changed for her, tolerating Harry and Ron just for her sake because he found her so alluring. For his part, Harry thought Hermione either insane from stress or bewitched to actually trust and love Draco. The relationship had lasted over a month already though, and he was facing the sad truth that they would be together longer than he could probably stand.  
Ron came up behind them, snarled, and started to walk off, but Hermione's good mood had been spoiled and her temper had frayed worse than a broken rope.  
"Can't you just be happy that I'm happy?! Honestly you two, it's like you won't accept anyone as good enough for me!! You didn't like Viktor, you HATE Draco, I mean, stop acting like you're my father!! I can't take it anymore!" Ron reacted to this statement first in shocked indignation, then in furor.  
"Really? Maybe we shouldn't try to care about you, seek the best for your well-being!! Maybe we should just stop voicing our caring opinions to you altogether!"  
"Caring opinions? All you've had to say about Draco and I from day one is how it won't work out, I'm playing stupid, yada, yada, yada! Shut up! And you!" she said, rounding on Harry, her self-control too far gone now to realize that she shouldn't be criticizing Harry when he was trying so hard to be supportive. "You've been sneering, poking fun, making snide remarks about Draco, even after I asked you to hold your tongue!" The screaming continued as Harry lashed out.  
"I've done my best! He's a sliming git!"  
"I'm not taking this anymore! Go to hell, both of you!" Hermione pulled Draco's arm and practically ran off, her hair curling and her eyes rimmed red.  
"Ron, why'd you have to go and set her off like that? You knew she was tired of it! How shameless of you!!" Harry turned.  
"ME?! ME?! How about you?! You, with your perfect little relationship with my sister, infatuated with he and with your perfect little idea of your perfect little world! DO you know how uncomfortable you make me when you snog my sister right in front of her family?! Huh?! Do you?!"  
"You know what, Ron? I am DONE with this conversation! I don't have to listen to you berating me because you are jealous, unsatisfied and downright mopey! Take a look around you and see how much you have and are being offered, and come back and tell me again that you're overshadowed, because you can't go ruining other people just because they're lives are more stable than yours because they're satisfied! Do you get what I'm saying?! Obviously you don't!"  
Ron sputtered, coughed, and sputtered again, but still, he could think of nothing to say. He would start to say something, then change his mind, and fall into silence again, so that after a minute or so of miserable uncomfort, Harry simply spun on his heel and walked away, seething in rage he had worked so hard to control for years, but angry at himself at the same time for letting his rage boil over at Ron. Part of him wanted to go back and apologize for being umcomforting to Ron's hurt, but his arrogant pride that had replaced his once honorable humility took over and he continued back to the common room, certain to stay there brooding for the rest of the night or until Ginny came to see him.  
Ron, for his part, continued to stand rooted to the spot, disbelieving that somehow he had managed to lose the one comfort to him, the one thing he truly believed he had, his two best friends. All in less than five minutes. Running through the hall and out to the lake, amidst bustling throngs of students, knocking over a few, he made his way to the glassy water and stood, contemplating whether or not he should just drown himself in the lake like he had done in his mysterious dream that night...  
  
Meanwhile, Hermione sobbed into Draco's robes, salty tears pouring forth. She knew she shouldn't have blown up at the two of them, but honestly! Just because Draco had been a prick in the past didn't mean that he couldn't change! You couldn't blame Draco for who he had as a father, or a mother, for that matter. Yet still, guilt throbbed in her heart and she wanted to go back to Harry and Ron, explain herself, work things out again. Especially with Ron. The poor bloke had been so sad as of late, she and Harry had, in their discussions, found nothing to do about it. Smart as she was and in tune with emotions, she had no inkling as to what was urking him...  
"Are you ready to stop crying, my harmony?" Draco asked soothingly. "Don't fret ove it, everything will get itself worked out. COome on now, stop crying, it'll all be alright..."  
Inside the curve of the wall they shared, Draco risked tilting her chin up and giving her a little kiss. Hermione was thoroughly against public displays of affection, but there was not a soul around in the corridor. She looked up into his eyes of metallic silver, and give him a wan smile, reaching up and brushing his hair out of his eyes. Worry about Ron and them later, the hormones in her body said...   
  
Harry's fretting led him to sitting in front of the Gryffindor common rooms fire, staring in to the flames in a dark hiraedd. He was left alone, for no one could have been deaf to the screaming they had heard in the hall that evening. Whispers passed through dorm rooms of the demise of the Inseparable Three. Could it be? Was there any hope? If the three of them couldn't last together, was there any hope for friendship in itself? Harry's thoughts, instead, were instant replays of the squabble, over and over and over again. He had that determined look of his in his eyes, for he was bent on figuring out what was wrong with Ron...  
  
All the pretty people  
Couldn't change my point of view  
I'm only who God made me to be  
All the pretty people  
Never think about the truth  
When it's gone it's gone forever more  
That's the price they must realize they'll pay  
Every day  
  
A/N: An end comes to chapter one. I'm planning on at least one more chapter, but help is needed for direction, because I'm a bit lost. You can tell because this chapter is very vague about what's wrong with Ron [hey, it almost rhymes!]. Please, Please, Puhleaze read and review. Give me hint, tips, insight critiques, anything! I'm starving! Let me know what you think happens to the gang and what else I can add. Gracias!  
  
Thanks, THANKS, THANKS!!! If you could please do it before the site closes for the weekend I'd be ever so grateful, but if you can't, thanks anyways!~  
  
~DaProfessa


End file.
